And henry hafner



(NoModeL) G. W. ROYCE .85 H. HAFNER.

INKSTAND.

No. 264,768. I Patented Sept. 19, 1-882.

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UNIT D STATES PATENT @FFICE.

GEORGE \V. ROYCE, OF ENGLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY,

AND HENRY HAFNE R,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

INKSTAND.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 264,763, dated September 19, 1882.

Application filed April 6, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, GEORGE 2V. ROYQE, of Englewood, in the county of Bergen and State of New Jersey, and HENRY HAFNER,0f

5 the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Inkstands, of which the i'ollowingisaspech fication.

Our invention is an improvement on that is class of inkstands, heretofore but little known, in which the lid of the ink-bottle is so pivoted and counterbalanced as to haveaoonstant tendency to open, and adapted to receive the pen upon its opening end, so that when the penis laid down after writing its weight upon the lid overcomes the counter-balance and automatically closes the lid, while on the other hand, when the pen is again taken up to write, the removal of its weight from the lid causes 23 the lid to automatically open. Heretofore to produce this action the lid has been provided with a special rack or pen-receptacle fixed or mounted thereon, upon which the pen is bodily placed and supported, or movable racks of 25 peculiar form have been operatively connected with the lid, all of which render the inkstand more or less complicated and expensive. Now in our improvement we employ only the ordinary and necessary parts of an inkstandviz.,

0 the stationary pen-racks and theiuk-bottle with its pivoted lid; but by a simple relativeformation and arrangement of the pivoted lid and the stationary racks we accomplish the desired purpose in a manner which is very efiicient, as

5 well as very neat and cheap, as hereinafter fully set forth.

In the drawings annexed, Figure 1 presents a sectional side elevation of our improved inkstand, and Fig. 2 a plan view thereof.

In the drawings, a indicates the base of the inkstand, which may he of any suitable shape or design, and is provided with a central socket to receive the ink-bottlebin the ordinary manner, which bottle, as illustrated, is of a well- 5 known design, but may be of any desired shape. From the base, at either side of the bottle, arise the fixed pen-racks 0 c, which racks are of nearlythe usual construction, having ordinary rack-notches, d, at the extreme top to receive and support spare pens or other instruments.

These racks c 0 ate, however, peculiar in that they are formed with the smooth inclined ways or edges on on the front. which begin at a point on about a level with the top of the ink-bottle and rise to the top of the rack at a consider- 5 v able distance above the ink-bottle, as shown in Fig. 1. These inclines are preferably not straight, but have a neatly-curved contourfor greater ornamental effect, and at the top of the inclines a stop or ]Jl jCCiLlOll,f is formed byan ornamental foliation in the design of the rack, and at the bottom a larger stop or projeotion,f, is formed by another foliation in the shape of a console, as seen best in Fig. 1.

The lid 9 of the ink-bottle is fixed to an axis, (5 h, which is freely pivoted at either end in the racks c c, on about a level with the top of the inkbot'tle, as shown in Fig. 1. The lid may be formed as a flat plate to close down flush upon the mouth of theink-bottle, as illustrated, or it may have any other suitable form, and it is provided with a rearwardly-extendingarm,

9, weighted at its extremity, thus forming a counter-balance, which gives the lid a constant tendency to open and normally remain so, as indicated by full lines in Fig. 1. Now the counterbalanced lid and the inclines e e of the rack are so arranged relatively to each other,

as fully shown in Fig. 1, that when the lid is raised or open, as shown, the tip of the lid or any point or projection thereon will project out between the inclines e e and beyond the edge of the same, as illustrated. Hence, if after the writing is finished the pen is placed on the inclines behind the projecting tip of the lid, as illustrated in Fig. 1, the pen will immediately roll down the inclines and force the lid before it, thus closing the lid down on the month of the bottle,and the pen willfinally rest upon the closed lid at the bottom of the inclines, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, where the stop fprevents the further motion of the pen. The lid will thus be held securely closed while the pen remains at the bottom of the inclines; but if the pen be again taken up 5 to write, thelid will automatically open by the action of its counter-balance, as will be readily understood.

By this simple and neat construction we pro duce a very desirable inkstand, in which the I00 opening and closing of the ink-bottle is performed automatically by the necessary motions 'of taking up or laying down the pen, and

without any special thought or attention on the part of the writer, thereby presenting the important twofold advantage of always protecting the ink from dust, evaporation, or ex posure during disuse and opening the bottle without effort the instant that the ink is desired.

It will also be seen that a characteristic feature of ourimprovement is that we accomplish these'desirable results without any parts or mechanism additional to the necessary elements of all complete inkstandsviz., the stationary pen-racks and the pivoted lid, by the simple relativeform and arrangement of which two elements we produce an inkstand ot' the class described, which is not only very efficient in action, but very neat and inexpensive in construction.

We prefer to make the lidgin the simulated form of some tailed animal of grotesque or ornamental shape-such as a dolphir 1,skate, turtle, dragon, &c.the tail serving as the arm g, on the end of which a counter-weight may be formed by a cavity filled with shot, by a plug of'lead, or by a movable weight, either of which admits of adjustment, as will be understood. A spring may, however, be used instead of a weight to give the lid a constant tendency to open, as will be readily understood.

It is not,of course,essential to our invention that the ways 6 e be actually inclined downward and forward, as shown in Fig. 1, for instead of this the ways mayhave a concave or convex curve, or he actually perpendicular, provided the tip of the lid projects out-between them, as set forth; but the inclined form is of course preferable.

What we claim is 1. An inkstand constructed with a counterbalanced lid having a constant tendency to open, and a fixed pen-rack formed with sliding ways or edges arranged ataradius within or behindthe path or radius of the tip'of the lid, whereby the pen, when placed upon the ways behind or above the lid, will rollor slide down the ways, and thereby depress and close the lid, whereas if the pen is taken up the lid willau omatically open.

2 In an inkstand, the combination, with a counterbalancedlidhavingaconstanttendency to open, of the fixed pen-racks c 0, formed with inclines or ways 06, arranged within the radius of the tip of the lid, and the stopf, arranged at the foot of said ways and above the lid when depressed, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

GEO. W. ROYCE. HENRY HAFNER.

Witnesses:

CHAS. M. HIGGINS, M. J. LEONARD. 

